Mobile menu
PCB Routing
Resources PCB Routing Efficient PCB Routing Using Gloss and Retrace Software Tools

Efficient PCB Routing Using Gloss and Retrace Software Tools

David Haboud
|  Created: March 19, 2020  |  Updated: April 12, 2021

The primary goal of your traces is to carry signals throughout your board without losses. To do this properly, you must familiarize yourself with the requirements for signals on the printed circuit board and how to optimize the topology of the board in terms of signal integrity. We will analyze the most popular routing cases applicable for using the Gloss and Retrace tools in Altium Designer to optimize your signal integrity.

Gloss Tool Demo: 15:36

Retrace Tool Demo: 26:50

JOIN THE WEBINAR TO DISCOVER:

The basic concept of signal integrity

Requirements for transmission lines in terms of signal integrity

Gloss and Retrace tools

Analysis of various cases of using Gloss and Retrace tools

What is PCB Routing? PCB Routing in Altium Designer Design Rules for PCB Routing Efficient PCB Routing Tools (Webinar) Routing the PCB in Altium Designer

About Author

About Author

David Haboud is a Product Marketing Engineer at Altium. He studied electrical engineering with an emphasis in computer architecture and hardware/software design at the University of Southern California. David began his career as an embedded software engineer in the aerospace industry and has always strived to make it easier for hardware and software engineers to communicate. During his tenure as an embedded software engineer, he focused on firmware development and data acquisition for auxiliary power units. In his spare time, David hosts and performs in improvisational and stand-up comedy nights in San Diego, California.

More content by David Haboud

Related Resources

31:31 Transmission Line Impedance Calculation With Altium Designer 20 Today’s PCBs contain many transmission lines. Combine this with increased clock frequencies and data rates and the result is a critical challenge to high-speed design. Neglecting these dynamics can undermine product development by compromising performance, power consumption, EMC/EMI compliance, and more - leading to delayed design cycles and opening gaps that can be exploited by your competition. Hone your high-speed design skills by joining us as we discuss the typical transmission lines encountered in today’s designs, the PCB variables that affect impedance, as well as how to create, calculate, and design transmission lines in Altium Designer. Learn how to maximize the built in SIMBEOR® engine by Simberian to craft impedance profiles and manage transmission lines in your designs. This Live Webinar recording covers the following: Current trends in electronics development PCB transmission line model and impedance calculations Transmission line with specified impedance in Altium Designer Don’t pass up on this opportunity to experience the industry’s best in class design experience! Watch Video
43:36 Speed Up your Routing Phase with Altium Designer with David Marrakchi Watch Video
50:25 Altium Designer 19 Key Features We are pleased to announce the release of Altium Designer 19.0! An exciting new era of Altium Designer is here Watch Video
1:3:28 Experience The New World-Class Interactive Router in Altium Designer 20 Altium Designer 20 ushers in a whole new era of possibilities and amongst them is a truly game-changing Interactive Routing Watch Video
Best Practices: Efficient Use of Snapping in Altium Designer Getting your PCB layout design done takes patience and precision. Complex footprint geometries, board shape, and dense component placement require Watch Video
43:28 Altium Designer 19 Sneak Peek Watch Video
29:12 Altium Designer 20 - Key Features Sneak Peek Are you ready to meet the next generation of Easy, Modern, and Powerful PCB design? Watch this live webinar to Watch Video

Related Technical Documentation

Using the Signal Integrity Panel to Drive SI Analysis in Altium NEXUS Using the Signal Integrity Panel to Drive SI Analysis in Altium NEXUS

This page details the Signal Integrity panel, used to perform SI analysis on a design. Use to screen all nets in a design against defined signal integrity rules, to identify problem nets. Analyze further by running fast reflection and crosstalk analyses

 Read Documentation
Using the PDN Analyzer Panel to Drive PDN Analysis in Altium NEXUS Using the PDN Analyzer Panel to Drive PDN Analysis in Altium NEXUS

This page details the PDN Analyzer panel, which provides the user interface for the Altium Power Deliver Network (PDN) analysis tool, available as a purchasable Altium Extension application for Altium NEXUS

 Read Documentation
Using the ActiveRoute Guided Interactive Router in Altium NEXUS Using the ActiveRoute Guided Interactive Router in Altium NEXUS

This page provides an in-depth look at the ActiveRoute Guided Interactive Router - a key tool when routing your PCB that enables you to quickly produce high-quality results, that meet the design rules, all the while under your full control

 Read Documentation
Tutorial - A Complete Design Walkthrough with Altium NEXUS Tutorial - A Complete Design Walkthrough with Altium NEXUS

This tutorial guides you through the complete design process using Altium NEXUS and a connected Workspace, from idea to generated manufacturing output released to the Workspace. Also explores features related to project management and collaboration

 Read Documentation
Routing the PCB in Altium NEXUS Routing the PCB in Altium NEXUS

This page acts as a checklist to help you work out if your board is ready for routing, including how to find nets on the board, making sure relevant design rules are defined, and setting up the routing layers

 Read Documentation
Interactively Tuning the Lengths of Your Routes on a PCB in Altium NEXUS Interactively Tuning the Lengths of Your Routes on a PCB in Altium NEXUS

This page looks at the PCB Editor's support for length tuning - being able to match the lengths of routes, by inserting variable amplitude tuning patterns, to ensure that timing-critical signals arrive at their target pins at the same time

 Read Documentation
Interactively Tuning the Lengths of Your Routes on a PCB in Altium NEXUS Interactively Tuning the Lengths of Your Routes on a PCB in Altium NEXUS

This page looks at the PCB Editor's support for length tuning - being able to match the lengths of routes, by inserting variable amplitude tuning patterns, to ensure that timing-critical signals arrive at their target pins at the same time

 Read Documentation
Interactively Routing Your PCB in Altium NEXUS Interactively Routing Your PCB in Altium NEXUS

This page provides an in-depth look at the process of interactively routing a single net, and the settings that control that process

 Read Documentation
Interactively Routing with Controlled Impedances on a PCB in Altium NEXUS Interactively Routing with Controlled Impedances on a PCB in Altium NEXUS

This page looks at the PCB Editor's support for controlled impedance routing - configuring the routing widths and clearances, as well as the material properties and dimensions, to deliver the required routing impedance(s)

 Read Documentation
Interactively Routing with Controlled Impedances on a PCB in Altium NEXUS Interactively Routing with Controlled Impedances on a PCB in Altium NEXUS

This page looks at the PCB Editor's support for controlled impedance routing - configuring the routing widths and clearances, as well as the material properties and dimensions, to deliver the required routing impedance(s)

 Read Documentation
Back to Home

Try Altium Designer

Get Altium Designer for free for 2 weeks

Get Altium Designer for free for 2 weeks